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Olympic wrestling hopeful Teshya Alo says she never filed a lawsuit against the man convicted of groping her when she was 14 years old.
Alo’s lawyer filed papers
in state court last week dismissing a lawsuit filed on Alo’s behalf by another
lawyer.
Honolulu lawyer Joseph Gleason filed a lawsuit in state court in October that names Alo as the plaintiff and former state high school wrestling tournament coordinator Keith T. Matsumoto
as the defendant. Gleason did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit when contacted on the day he filed it.
Gleason withdrew as
the lawyer on the case in
December.
The new lawyer, Eric
Seitz, filed court papers Wednesday to dismiss the lawsuit.
Gleason said he cannot comment on the circumstances of his withdrawal from the case.
In a written statement,
Alo said she was upset and shocked when she learned
of the lawsuit.
“I had been contacted
by many attorneys and if
I wanted to sue (Matsumoto) I would have done it years ago when he was found guilty and sentenced to six months in jail,” Alo said.
A state jury found Matsumoto guilty in 2014 of third-degree sexual assault,
a Class C felony.
Alo testified that Matsumoto groped her in 2012 during a summer wrestling tournament at Farrington High School. A tournament official testified he witnessed the incident.
Circuit Judge Randal Lee sentenced Matsumoto to five years of probation, six months of which he had to serve behind bars, ordered him to perform 150 hours of community service and banned Matsumoto, a longtime wrestling coach, from involvement in youth sports. The conviction also requires Matsumoto to register as
a sex offender for the rest
of his life.
Alo said Matsumoto served his time, apologized and abided by the court’s
orders. She said it is not fair to both of them to bring up
a case that happened years ago that she wants to forget.
“I am a wrestler. I wrestle.
I want to be remembered for my wrestling accomplishments and not a sexual assault story,” she said.
Alo is a four-time state high school wrestling champion and also has won national and international awards.
Matsumoto appealed
his conviction to the
Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, which upheld the conviction. He then took his case to the Hawaii Supreme Court, which has agreed to consider his appeal.
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